Vertical Ride

I'm working on the top floor of a building with six floors. For whatever reason, there is no exit access from the stairways to any floor except the ground floor and the garage sublevel. You can enter a stairway from any floor, but you can't go between floors, nor can you walk up if you happen to work on the second floor. So the elevators get a healthy workout each day.

As a result, a lot of people have to ride up to the second and third floors, and I think some of them feel at least a little guilty that they are slowing down the rides of those who work on higher floors. People are very eager to push my floor button for me when I'm boarding an elevator, and when they get off on a lower floor, they say, "Have a good day" as they are leaving. I've never seen anything like it.

There are three elevators, and one of them is frequently in use by maintenance and HVAC people. It's draped with heavy blankets to protect the walls inside. Unfortunately, the blankets are quite smelly. I don't like riding in this elevator, which I have dubbed the Smellevator. But when I push the call button, I don't know which elevator is coming (only the lobby shows the floor locations of the elevator cars), and it seems silly to wait for a different one.